A brand new Ayodhya will welcome Ram Temple

Ayodhya is now getting ready for a new look. Besides, a cruise on the Saryu, a five-star hotel and heritage hotels are being planned along with a Ram Corridor that will extend for 13km from the Ram Janambhoomi site to the site where the Ram Statue is to be installed.

After the announcement of the Supreme Court verdict in favour of the temple, the Yogi Adityanath government has decided to ensure rapid development of the holy city and promote it as an international tourist destination.

The cruise planned on the Saryu, on the lines of Varanasi, will provide a panoramic view of the Ram temple, Ram corridor and Ram statue.

The Chief Minister has asked the state Culture and Tourism Departments to invite other states to replicate the prominent religious places in their states in Ayodhya.

If all goes well, there could be a replica of the famous Meenakshi temple, Konark temple, Somnath temple and Tirupati temple in Ayodhya soon.

"The purpose is to develop Ayodhya as the biggest religious tourist destination. We plan to get all states to build their own buildings like Maharashtra Bhawan, Uttarakhand Bhawan and Karnataka Bhawan in Ayodhya. With the grand Ram temple now coming up, Ayodhya is bound to emerge as an international tourist attraction," said a senior official in the Chief Minister's Secretariat.

The Yogi government is also increasing road, rail and air connectivity to Ayodhya. A proposal for an international airport in Ayodhya has already been floated by Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari, who has said that an international airport in Ayodhya will help to make the holy city become a centre of faith for Hindus worldwide.

A bus station to accommodate 3,000 to 4,000 buses at a time is being finalized and work on this would start soon once the Chief Minister approves the plan.

A new township will also be constructed alongside the construction of the Ram temple to develop the town as among the world's best pilgrim destinations and attract tourists from world over. The hospitality industry will obviously get a major boost in this.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has already been working on renovating and beautifying the town and had approved Rs 400 crore for this.

In the past two and a half years, the Chief Minister has visited Ayodhya 18 times to personally monitor the progress of various developmental projects.

He initiated the Deepotsav programme and renamed Faizabad as Ayodhya.

Principal Secretary, Tourism and Culture, Jitendra Kumar, said there was already a surge of investors from India and abroad who are showing keen interest in building big hotels, hospitals, resorts and providing hospitality and service centres in Ayodhya.

( With inputs from IANS )